Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 3.302 March 25, 1994 1) Lith/Yiddish (Jules Levin) 2) Interlingual joke (Anatole Beck) 3) Tren (Jack Lubowsky) 4) Sholem Aleichem's Yortsayt (Meyer David) 5) Turkish Words in Yiddish (Howard Gershen) 6) Speak English! (Jack Lubowsky) 7) Brooklyn in Yiddish popular culture (Khayim 'eynakh Sapoznik) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu Mar 24 17:17:27 1994 From: Subject: Lith/Yiddish Regarding the 'gloksne-beymer', Lith gluosnis 'willow' is probably right, but curiously the multivolume Lith dictionary which loves to include all variants, does NOT attest a variant with the 'k'. BUT, sporadic 'k' insertion before /s/ or /sh/ + Cons IS a typical Baltic sound feature with many dialect and regional varieties. Did the Jews in this village pick up an unattested *gluoksnis/gloksnis from their Lithuanian neighbors, or is it a Yiddish hyper-correction based on the frequency of the suffix? Regarding saltes noses etc. Based on the form 'saltinosis', it looks indeed like the source is Lithuanian shalta nosis, pl. shaltos nosys, 'cold nose', which would produce a compound shaltinosis. I suspect the sh > s is the local Yiddish sabslosn. I wasn't able to check to see if the compound is attested in Lith, and my Lith cookbook is packed away somewhere in my book boxes, which I'm reluctant to unpack till the aftershocks stop. This discussion is interesting to me because it provides evidence that many Lithuanian Jews really DID know at least some Lithuanian. My grandpa from Shakiai I always thought was unusual because it seems he did know Lithuanian. The Lithuanians themselves who came from and remember those villages often claim that THEY spoke Yiddish with the Jews, not Lithuanian! By the way, in the 70's a Jewish linguist published in Lithuanian in Litva a book on the Lithuanian language influence in Lithuanian Yiddish. I have a photocoppy, but still have not read it. Jules Levin 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu Mar 24 18:46:36 1994 From: Subject: Interlingual joke Connais-tu Maurice laFontaine? Pas du tout. Vielleicht hast Du ihm gekennt in Berling zwischen die Kriegen? er hat damals geheissen Moritz Spritz. Ich kenn kein Moritz Spritz. in poylen far dem ershte melkhome hot er gehaysen Moyshe Pisher. Moyshe Pisher! ikh ken im gut. Anatole Beck 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu Mar 24 19:18:58 1994 From: Subject: Tren My ex-wife's family commonly used the word "tren" to mean sexual intercourse. Since I had never heard the word in my family, I assumed it was just a made-up word peculiar to my in-laws. Years later, my thesis advisor, Dr. Arthur Shapiro, of dream research fame, recounted to me that an instrument salesman trying to sell him a 5-digit voltmeter, explained variation in the fifth digit as being "trend" information. I guess when I heard this I muttered under my breath, "You were getting 'trenned' alright." When he laughed, I realized that the word must have been more common than I thought. Years later again, while sitting on the subway studying scientific Russian for my qualifying exam, I came across the Russian for "friction", "tren'eeyeh". I presume all the others in the subway car never figured out why this fellow reading a scientific Russian text, suddenly burst into uncontrollable laughter. Jack Lubowsky 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu Mar 24 22:05:42 1994 From: mhd@world.std.com Subject: Sholem Aleichem's Yortsayt Could someone please supply the exact English and Hebrew dates of Sholem Aleichem's death? Thanks. Meyer David 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri Mar 25 13:31:14 1994 From: howard@boxhill.com Subject: Re: Turkish Words in Yiddish Don't forget "Pastrami", which comes from the Turkish "Pastirma" (must've been a dyslexic Jew somewhere in the history of Jewish gastronomy). Howard Gershen 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri Mar 25 15:02:25 1994 From: Subject: Speak English! Our former Dean of admissions, who was a practicing pediatrician in the 40's, related this story which he swears happened to him. He was called to an apartment in Williamsburg, Brooklyn to attend to a 5-year old child with a fever. He characterized the "child" as a bulvan who was desperately afraid of getting the shot of penicillin in his tuchess. He said four family members held the kid down spread- eagle while he administered the shot. After it was over, the kid jumped up, flushed with anger, shook a finger at the doctor and shouted "Du shtick drek!" The mother immediately gave the child a frask in punim and yelled "Speak English!" Jack Lubowsky 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri Mar 25 15:02:36 1994 From: sapoznik@aol.com Subject: Brooklyn in Yiddish popular culture As long as we're talking about Brooklyn in Yiddish literature, how about Brooklyn in Yiddish popular culture? Music-wise1924 saw Jacob Wasilkowsky's "Brownsville" (with it's immortal line: "Chester Street is der bester street"!), "Oyf un unter der Boardwalk" by the prolific songwriting team of Peretz Sandler and Louis Gilrod for the Aaron Lebedeff vehicle "Mendel in Yapon", and Morris Karlinsky's "Brownsviller Bulgar" (which my band Kapelye is now recording on our new CD). In 1932 Lipa Feingold wrote "Pitkin Avenue" an ode to Brownsville's popular main drag. Brooklyn was also represented on Yiddish radio. "Der Brownsviller Zeyde" was one of the first Yiddish soap operas and aired in 1929 on WLTH. This serial was written and directed by and starred Borukh Lumet, co-starring his family including his youngest son, billed as "Sidnelle"! Khayim 'eynakh Sapoznik ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 3.302 To subscribe, send SUB MENDELE FIRSTNAME LASTNAME to: LISTSERV@YALEVM.YCC.YALE.EDU Mendele has 2 rules: 1. Provide a Subject: line. 2. Sign your article. Send submissions/responses to: mendele@yalevm.ycc.yale.edu Other business: nmiller@starbase.trincoll.edu Anonymous ftp archives available on: ftp.mendele.trincoll.edu in the directory pub/mendele/files Archives available via gopher on: gopher.cic.net